The Lonsdale, 619-625 Avenue Rd: Large Suites Beside Upper Canada College

The Lonsdale is not a building for first-time buyers. Its smallest suites start at about 1,340 square feet, the neighbour across the fence is Upper Canada College, and the buyers it attracts are usually leaving a house in Forest Hill or Deer Park and want to stay close. The question is whether you can live with the fees that come with the size. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

Two buildings on the edge of Upper Canada College

The Lonsdale is a pair of buildings on the east side of Avenue Road at Lonsdale Road, bordering the grounds of Upper Canada College. Listing sites treat them as two separate buildings, and one portal labels 625 Avenue Road as The Lonsdale 2, but they share a single condominium corporation, TSCC-1516. When you read the status certificate, you are reading about both buildings.

The developer is recorded as Kenair Apartments, the same name behind the Kenair Apartments condominium at 500 Avenue Road, completed in 2008. A Toronto Life feature on a suite here said the builders were also responsible for the Park Plaza Hotel and Royal Bank Plaza. That is a long institutional track record, and you can see it in how the building has been finished.

The original marketing described the project as keeping to the low-rise character of the neighbourhood, while the building profile records 17 storeys. Both can be true of a design that steps back from the street, but ask which floor and which building the suite is in, because the views over the college grounds change a great deal with height.

Built like a house, sized like one too

The finishing details are the kind you see in custom houses rather than towers: coffered ceilings in the foyers, granite counters with pencil-edge detailing, and oversized custom baseboards and door casings. Those are original features, so a suite that has not been renovated still has good bones.

Sizes run from about 1,338 to 3,912 square feet. The smaller end is a generous two-bedroom; the larger end is a full-floor-scale home. The suite featured in Toronto Life was a two-bedroom plus den of about 1,734 square feet with 9-foot ceilings and one parking space, and current listings range from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom plus den.

Many owners here have renovated heavily. The suite in the Toronto Life feature had walnut panelling and silk wallcoverings, and was reported to have had a very expensive renovation. Renovations add appeal, but they rarely add their full cost back on resale, so judge each suite on its layout and exposure first.

A quiet market, and why that matters

With 119 suites, the Lonsdale is a mid-sized corporation, but very little of it trades at any one time. At the time of writing there were two suites for sale and none for rent. With suites this large and this expensive, owners tend to buy to live here rather than to rent out, and they tend to stay.

That has two effects for a buyer. First, you will rarely have a choice of three or four similar suites at once, so if the right layout and exposure come up, you need to be ready. Second, there are fewer recent comparables to price from, which makes the size, condition and floor of each suite more important than the building average.

Low turnover usually also means an owner-occupied board that cares about upkeep. That is a good sign, but it is not a substitute for reading the board minutes and the reserve fund study yourself.

Living at Avenue and Lonsdale

This is a residential stretch of Avenue Road, with Upper Canada College on one side and the shops of Forest Hill Village a short walk west along Lonsdale Road. Yonge and St. Clair, with its subway station, grocery stores and restaurants, is to the east.

Avenue Road itself is a busy arterial, so ask whether the suite faces the road, the college grounds or Oriole Road. The difference in noise between the front and the back of a building on Avenue Road is real, and it is the first thing I would check at a showing.

Avenue Road north of St. Clair has several other condominiums of a similar vintage and type, including 609 Avenue Road and 616 Avenue Road, so you can compare like with like before you commit. The data panel on this page covers schools, transit and Walk Score.

Fees that look high until you read what they cover

At the time of writing there were two suites for sale, asking between $1,479,000 and $4,495,000, with monthly fees between about $1,827 and $4,361. That spread tells you how wide the range of suite sizes is here.

Those fees are high in dollar terms, but the inclusions are broad: common elements, heat, air conditioning, building insurance, parking and water are all covered. In a large suite, heating and cooling are a big part of the monthly cost of living, and here they are inside the fee rather than on your own bill. Hydro for in-suite use is not listed as included, so budget for it.

Compare the Lonsdale with large suites in nearby buildings on a total-monthly-cost basis, not on fees alone. My building sold report shows what suites here have actually traded for.

Price per square foot is the fairest way to compare suites inside the Lonsdale, because the size range is so wide. Even so, adjust for floor, exposure and renovation, and treat the largest suites as their own market. There are very few buyers at the top of the range at any one time.

Building specifications

Amenities at The Lonsdale

There is no pool or large fitness complex listed. The amenities are about service and convenience: a concierge, rooms for meetings and parties, a car wash in the garage and visitor parking, which suits owners who would rather use a club than a condo gym.

Jatin’s honest take on The Lonsdale

The Lonsdale — frequently asked questions

Looking at Yorkville, the Annex and Midtown more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.